Telangana flagged among top drug smuggling states in India: NCB

HYDERABAD: Drug consumption in India has risen sharply, with 2024 witnessing a record surge in narcotics-related cases. According to the latest report by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as many as 18,306 quintals of drugs were seized across the country last year. Authorities registered about 96,000 cases and arrested over 12 lakh people in connection with narcotics offences.

The report said Telangana, along with Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand, has emerged as a major hub for the production and transit of marijuana and related substances. Investigators seized 5,408 quintals of cannabis worth around ₹2,700 crore in 2024, indicating an average daily recovery of drugs valued at over ₹7 crore nationwide.

Across India, agencies destroyed 4,511 quintals of narcotics valued at ₹10,247 crore last year.

Telangana route used for inter-state and overseas smuggling

In the past, marijuana cultivation was widespread in Telangana, but it declined due to strict enforcement measures. The state has now become a transit corridor, with large-scale cultivation taking place along the Andhra–Odisha border. Crops grown there are smuggled through Telangana into Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat, and even shipped abroad via Mumbai port.

The report said seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) such as MDMA, mephedrone and methaqualone have increased sixfold in the last five years—from 1,890 kg in 2013 to 11,994 kg in 2024. Similarly, seizures of other synthetic drugs rose from 19 kg in 2020 to 1,483 kg in 2024—a seventy-eight-fold jump.